Traditional leadership coaching isn’t for everyone. Sometimes a more alternative approach to improving leadership skills is needed. Below are just some of the more unusual ways to develop your leadership skills.
Anonymous surveys
Asking your team to complete feedback surveys can be a great way of learning what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong. To get the right answers, you need to ask the right questions. This post lists some fun questions to ask your employees. Surveys can be completed anonymously to encourage employees to be open. Make sure that you use these surveys to take actionable steps.
Journaling
Journaling involves jotting down your thoughts and feelings each day. As well as being a great tool for clearing your mind of negative thoughts, it can also be a tool for improving yourself. When improving leadership skills, journaling can be used to list concerns and criticisms you have received. However, it can also be used to list compliments you’ve received and goals you’ve achieved to help you boost your confidence. Journals can also be used to list actionable steps that you wish to take next – helping you to set more rewarding goals.
Video games
Many video games test problem solving skills. But some do so in a way that also test our leadership skills – particularly real time strategy games like Sim City and Total War and team games like Overwatch and League of Legends. Playing with real players is the best way to test team communication as it helps to make the stakes more real.
Horses
Several innovative programs have started teaching leadership with horses. How does this work? While it may seem wacky on the surface, interacting with horses can teach us a lot about how we approach the unknown and how we tackle responsibility. Horses are unique in that they require us to make genuine connection with them before they are willing for us to lead them. A coach can watch how you approach the situation and help you understand what this says about your style of leadership – which could include positives and negatives.
Survival treks
This one is slightly extreme, but certain to help you understand yourself better. Survival treks are challenging treks through stunning remote areas where you are taught survival skills which you must then apply throughout the trek (such as making a fire and making shelter). They are typically done with several people, forcing you to engage in teamwork and help each other to survive. A survival expert will lead the tour and will step in if necessary, but for the most part it’s up to you to make the right decisions. Some treks are simply a challenge to complete, while others try to combine life coaching.
Escape rooms
Going to an escape room with your team could be a fun way of testing your leadership. Escape rooms require you to work as a team to solve puzzles and escape a room. They require a degree of leadership and teamwork to complete. Look for escape rooms in your area.
Team fundraiser activities
Team fundraiser activities can give you a non-business related goal to work towards as a team. They can help you apply your leadership skills in a different way while still working with the same people and having similar stakes. Fundraiser activities are also very rewarding for everyone and can help you to bond.
